


I’m Just Young Enough to Still Believe

by kissesfromkrug



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Artificial Luck, Getting Together, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-08 07:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14100402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissesfromkrug/pseuds/kissesfromkrug
Summary: What would you do today if you knew you couldn’t fail?Auston’s chosen target—his best friend.





	I’m Just Young Enough to Still Believe

**Author's Note:**

> Not for profit, fictional; feel free to point out any typos. :)
> 
> Title from "Champion" by FOB. :)

Now, Eichs has never been the best person to ask for advice, but really, this is too much.

"That’s not fair," Auston insists, Jack standing in front of him with arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"So you’re saying you want to be miserable and alone for the rest of your life?" Jack asks. "Since you’ve made exactly zero progress in the past three months and have no desire to, I thought this would be helpful."

"No, I just—it doesn’t seem _right_."

"Magic wouldn’t exist if it was all wrong, now would it?" Jack huffs, uncrossing his arms and snapping his fingers. A burst of sparkles rains down from his hands until he balls his fist and shoved his hands in his pockets. Like Jack doesn’t know he’s practically one in a million with his whole magic thing.

"Okay, yeah, but I’m not asking you to give him a sparkly shower," Auston says, rapidly approaching the state of frustration and agitation. "I need him to _like_ me."

"News flash, buddy, he kinda does already."

"Don’t be dumb," Auston sighs, "You know what I mean."

Jack just frowns deeper, staring at Auston for a few extra seconds. "Text me tomorrow, just to make sure."

"I just don’t—"

"Sleep on it and think for a second, will you?" Jack interrupts, rolling his eyes and turning on a heel to go.

"Wait, Jack," Auston says. Jack doesn’t turn around, but he stops in his tracks.

"What?"

"Is it permanent?"

Jack stiffens noticeably. "Yes. Eventually. If you want it to be."

Then it’s settled.

* * *

_bro do what u want_

_but is it ok????_

_ur decision, man_

_idk wat 2 tell u :/_

_do u want it that bad?_

Auston blows a breath out through his nose, staring up at the ceiling from his bed.

He wants it _so_ bad.

_i do but like_

_do it, matts_

_as ur bestest ultimate bff, i say u should go 4 it_

_willy..._

_get help, fuck mitch_

_that simple :)_

_wtf no_

_that’s not y i want this_

_u know u want to_

_don’t lie 2 me_

_.......bye bitch_

_XD u love me almost as much as marns_

_lies_

* * *

_eichs_

_i wanna do it_

_r u sure??_

_um. yes?_

_u were the one telling me it was good_

_is that yes a question?_

_no. i wanna do it. ik i do._

_auston...._

_pls eichs_

_im srs_

_fine_

_meet me next to the football field after lunch, we’ll go from there_

_ur the bomb.com_

_literally no one says that anymore but thx_

_ik im da best_

* * *

"Don’t even mention my chicken sandwich," Jack warns the moment Auston opens his mouth. "I’m missing it right now and it’s your fault."

"Someone’s bitchier than usual," Auston chirps. "Boy troubles?"

"Connor is _fine_ ," Jack hisses, and Auston smirks knowingly. He can read Jack like an open book. " _Anyway_ , since you’re fucking obsessed and unwilling to do anything about it—I made this." He produces a small book with a shimmery black cover.

Auston squints at it in confusion, having seen it the time Jack had healed his sprained ankle while he was asleep. The first time he saw it was when he offered to fix the heating in Auston’s room, freshman year. Auston thought he’d bring a few screwdrivers and wrenches, but Jack walked in with a book and said some words that definitely weren’t English—or any language he could recognize—and boom, the heater was fixed. Auston didn’t have to suffer, but he had the hugest fucking secret to keep.

"Is that—"

"One spell of mine gives you unlimited luck for as long as the caster desires, based on the wishes of the other," Jack interrupts, keeping his voice low. "The caster being me, the other being—whoever. In this case, it’s you." Auston reaches for it, but Jack closes his hand around the binding.

"But—"

"You won’t be taking this anywhere," Jack says, and Auston pulls back his hand. "I keep this on me at all times. I’ve told you that." Auston opens his mouth to object. "Besides, I’m the only one that can read it."

"So this spell...thing—it’s like the thing from Harry Potter, except not a potion?" Auston asks after a beat.

Jack scoffs. "I mean, if you wanna go there, then I guess, yeah. Except this is fucking real and it works." He blows out a breath and opens the book, looking through it, and Auston cranes his neck to try and see what’s written. "Did you miss the part where I said 'I’m the only one that can read it'?" Jack asks, but Auston just raises his eyebrows. Jack sighs. "Apparently so."

There’s a shout from the field house, and they both look up to see a group of runners making their way around the track.

"This really isn’t the best place for this," Jack grumbles to himself, and Auston nearly restrains himself from commenting. Not quite, though.

"You picked it out."

"We’ll do it in my room," Jack says, as if Auston had never opened his mouth. "I’ll tell Hanny to clear out till we’re done."

"He’ll think you’re sexiling him," Auston grins as Jack shoves the little book away and walks towards the dorms. Jack doesn’t respond, and Auston falls silent as he follows close behind.

Jack is muttering to himself as they make their way up the stairs and into the room, Auston left standing in the middle of the rug as Jack sits down gingerly on his bed. "So, uh, the thing," he tries, and Jack’s head shoots up.

"Patience, Matts, geez." Auston just crosses his arms sassily and rolls his eyes, just like he’s seen Jack do a hundred times before. It earns a snort and a flip of the bird before Jack finally stands up again.

"Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t have any goat’s blood or sheep liver or any of that shit," Auston warns.

"What the fuck?" Jack laughs. "I’m not giving you a fucking sheep liver, dumbass. I’m placing you under a spell, not trying to summon a demon."

"Well excuse me." Auston raises his hands in surrender. "Didn’t know I was supposed to know about that shit."

"You’re not, which is why you need to shut your mouth."

"Is it gonna hurt?" Auston says in a painfully high-pitched voice. "Just don’t hurt me, Jacky."

"Shut the fuck up," is all he gets from Jack, plus an added bonus of mottled red cheeks. It’s easy to rile him up.

Auston smirks proudly at the image. "Maybe."

Jack shakes his head in disbelief. "Now I know why you and Marns are obsessed with each other," he sighs, Auston refusing to react to the obvious bait. "Alright, so I need you to stand still and shut up..." Auston obeys for once, Jack waving his hand and chanting something that kind of does sound demonic. He shuts his eyes, and Auston copies the motion. He’s totally not nervous at all.

In the back of his mind, Auston hears the words "two days, two days" repeated, but is soon distracted by more physical signals.

He sucks in a sharp breath at the warm air he feels ghost over his entire body, brushing his hair aside and delving right through his clothes. His fingers and toes begin to tingle, the pins and needles moving up his arms and legs until his entire body almost feels like it’s vibrating, like there are bees right under his skin, a live wire sparking with electricity in every vein and artery, every bone infused with _something_ buzzing uncontrollably.

"Auston!" His eyes snap open, having spread his arms wide unknowingly and tilted his head up.

"I look normal," he says, tongue feeing heavy and strange in his mouth, and Jack gestures as if to say "duh".

"You seem happy to not be turned into a rhino," he says drily, "since that’s the animal you look like most."

"Fuck off, I do not." He flexes his fingers and drops his arms, rolling his shoulders, twisting his back, and bouncing up on his toes.

"There’s nothing physically different about you, Matts, you’re just. Luckier. 100%, actually."

"So it’s really gonna—"

"If you ask me if it’s gonna work I will honest to God punch you," Jack sighs, and Auston grins.

"Thanks, man." Jack nods and shrugs, trying to act modest and completely failing. He’s got a pleased smirk on his face and arms crossed over his chest as he watches Auston take a step back.

"No problem." He closes the book with a snap, and Auston turns to go.

* * *

_i have a q_

_shoot_

_u said it was permanent???_

_is it tho??_

_i forget_

_buddy_

_that’s not what I said_

_um_

_pretty sure it was_

_ok well that’s not what I meant_

_??????_

_if u want it 2 b permanent then it will b ;)_

_ok?_

_trust me. just b u and it’ll b fine :)_

Auston takes a deep breath. Since when has Jack ever let him down?

_alright so_

_mitch is coming over to study_

_it should b good??_

_u doubt me???_

_but yea, def should b good_

_txt me if u have any problems whatsoever_

_not relationship ones. just health ones_

_so caring..._

_i do my best_

_thx_

_np_

Auston sets down his phone and picks up his water bottle, hand shaking slightly as he untwists and re-twists the cap on it over and over. He shakes the bottle, reopens the cap, and chugs almost all of it in one go.

 _God_ , he must really be subconsciously nervous. He almost never drinks plain water.

There’s a knock at the door when he swallows, and as he downs the last sip Mitch comes rushing in excitedly.

"Dude, dude, holy shit, did you see that Leafs game last night? They put up 8 on like, a world-class goaltender."

Auston instinctively smiles at Mitch, who drops his bag on the floor next to the bed and jumps onto it. "I heard about it," Auston answers, and Mitch immediately launches into a tirade about goalie interference calls and embellishment and goal reviews and _everything_ —so much that Auston thinks for a split second that he might not even get the chance to try before it wears off.

He lets Mitch run himself out of air, face pink and happy, blue eyes shimmering in the light of Auston’s lamp. "So," Mitch says after he pulls his chemistry book onto the bed. "How much do you know about molecular structures?"

"What they have you do in high school when you had to take SAT’s, gag you?" Auston jokes, and Mitch blushes and shrugs, still grinning.

"Something like that."

* * *

As it turns out, Auston isn’t nearly as learned in molecular structures as he thought he was. Mitch has since procured his helpful study chart, pointing out all the tips he uses to memorize—maybe actually learn, who knows—the different types.

"Okay, so an example of this one is sodium bicarbonate?" Auston says questioningly, and Mitch nods. His smile brightens up the room, no matter if Auston has his shades drawn (he always does) or not.

"Do you know which one sodium fluorosilicate is?" Mitch asks, and Auston points to one of the diagrams on Mitch’s chart. "Guess you’re not _that_ much of an airhead."

"Who said I was an airhead?" Auston grins, "It wouldn’t have been you, right?"

Mitch just laughs and shuts the book, shrugging casually. "Maybe, maybe not." He glances at the dark window, then back to Auston. Mitch’s hands suddenly become his focal point for attention, and Auston peers at him curiously.

Holy shit, Auston is actually gonna do this.

"I was just wondering something," Auston says, when Mitch, oddly enough, has no words. "'Cause, you know, we’re friends and all, but you kinda..."

"Annoy you?" Mitch finishes, not looking guilty in the least. "Yeah I know, Dyls tells me every day. What’s new?"

A lot. Lots of things. Too many for Auston to keep quiet about.

"No, you’re uh, kinda cool," Auston tries again, slowly so Mitch hears him clearly. Mitch snorts.

" _The_ Auston Matthews?" He asks rhetorically, spreading his arms and staring at the window. "Calling _me_ cool? Make it a national holiday, everybody, I’m the coolest kid in school."

"Not anymore," Auston laughs, and Mitch playfully threatens to hit him over the head with their book.

"No take-backs, Aus, I am _the_ coolest."

"My favorite," Auston mumbles unthinkingly, watching Mitch’s face carefully as he looks back down to their notes. He immediately clamps his mouth closed and looks away, but it’s too late.

"Favorite?"

"Shut up, it’s nothing." Auston is fighting off a blush, pursing his lips to keep from smiling when Mitch scoots a little closer.

"I’m your favorite?" Mitch presses, grinning stupidly big as he sets a warm hand on Auston’s knee. Auston shrugs. Mitch isn’t satisfied. "Hey. Me. This is about me." Auston cracks a smile as Mitch tries to joke. "You said I’m your favorite. Did you mean it?"

Auston sucks in his cheeks and blows out a long hot breath. "Yeah."

"Good. You’re my favorite too." Mitch squeezes his knee a few times and beams even brighter. Auston heart leaps in his chest, but it sinks back down as Mitch adds, "Favorite bestie."

Auston opens the book to a page halfway through it, eyes skimming over the words but not processing them. Mitch says something, but Auston’s heart pounds in his ears and blocks out everything but his racing thoughts. He knew Mitch would never like him like _that_. It would be too good to be true.

"Aus, buddy, come back to Earth," Mitch says loudly, snapping in front of Auston’s face. "Did you hear me?" Auston stares at the page and refuses to look up, giving Mitch a tiny nod. "No you didn’t, you were zoned out in Depressing Auston Land."

"Like I’d wanna hear what you said," Auston mumbles, feeling more self-deprecating than ever. "If you want me to go I can just—"

Mitch kisses him hard, hands holding his face still so he can lick every breath right out of Auston’s lungs. Auston freezes, hands moving to stroke along Mitch’s wrists, but Mitch doesn’t stop, giving Auston time to slow his eyes shut and finally kiss back. Auston lets his hands fall and his mouth do the dirty work.

Mitch is first to pull back, panting loudly in Auston’s ear.

"Holy _shit_ ," Auston says, not willing to open his eyes. "You just—" He blinks as Mitch drops his hands to hold onto Auston’s own.

"Good?" Mitch asks, looking a mixture of smug and hopeful, maybe even a bit nervous.

"You’re such an ass," Auston says, wrapping his fingers in the front of Mitch’s shirt. "And I don’t know about 'good', I think you’re gonna have to show me again."

"Oh, shut up." Mitch’s grin returns—that thing’ll go down in history as a new wonder of the world—and Auston discovers that smiling while kissing is a rather difficult thing to accomplish. But, all in all, he thinks they’ll manage just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Mitch was already long gone for Auston by the time the magic happened—hah—so it technically didn’t make much of a difference at all.


End file.
